The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread

[tek101]

Originally Posted by garytma

Hmm, not exactly sure what you mean there. I would expect that discs AND players would operate under most all conditions- be it purchased discs, or rentals!

As as for rentals in general: while most of the universe was renting VHS movies, my wife and I were buying all of the movies we wanted to view on laserdisc. Today, the extensive world of films on disc has made us more discerning. We only buy the movies that we have seen, and truely love. Even given that, with laserdiscs, DVDs, and now Blu-rays, we own over 500 films on disc.

Given that, even with ownership of so many movies, we probably have 50 that we love so much, that we mostly watch them, when watching titles from our movie library. Also, there is the realization that once one's film collection gets to be so big, it is quite likely that there are many that one will never get back to viewing again- so why buy everything that comes down the gate?

A rental service like Netflix is wonderful for viewing all of the "big and small" films that one never gets around to seeing in the theater. It is perfect if one has a busy life, and can only get to watching new films, supplemented with own library titles, a couple of times a week.

Anyway, I would expect my S300 to play all but the dirtiest/scratched Blu's and/or DVDs, otherwise what are we paying our hard earned cash for? One of the big selling points of Blu-ray, is how much better protected discs are, compared to DVD. I would expect only the best in picture, sound, and durability. Inspecting the outside of every disc I rent, I rarely see any "defects" on Blu-rays, but the skipping still occurs.

Hopefully, I am simply experiencing some "new format/growing pain" manufacturing issue that will pass quickly!

Gary. I Meant people who rent the movies normally don't take care as good as their own. I too, once complained with Blockbuster about bad disc,and they said they do best as they can.what can we do but send them back.

[garytma]

Originally Posted by Scorxpion

I have a question for you ,you have said you have upgraded your firmware but you did not mentioned if it is the latest or old one.Please be specific and if you have an old version upgraded,if you still have problems send it to Sony and will replace it for you.

Good Luck

I purchased my S300 about a year ago, and upgraded the firmware with each new version, via disc from Sony, as each became available. My player is presently running version 4.20.

I do not recall the version #, but after the very first upgrade I did, back in about August of 2007, I had an immediate improvement in the player's performance.

As I alluded to, in my previous posts, the S300's performance, with regard to picture and audio quality, has been stellar. And from my own collection, I have only had 2 instances where the player "stuck" on a section of the disc. 99.9% of my DVD/Blu library plays just fine. We watched two DVDs, from our collection last night, with absolutely no negative issues, but superb upconverting.

I tend to believe that there is something happening with the Blu-ray rental discs- most likely unseen dirt- though if that is the case, why does my player ignore DVDs with awful scratches, playing just fine, and skip on Blu discs that appear to be clean?

It is a mystery.

[garytma]

Originally Posted by krisjan

Do yourself a favor and thoroughly clean every rental BD. Though you may not visibly see any dirt etc., this is known to take care of 90+% of problems with rental BD's (as reported on these forums by many rental users).

I agree with you. Probably 90% of the time I have cleaned a rental disc before playing it. With Blu-ray's, I have not been as persistant in doing so because: 1. The disc looked very clean; 2. A Blu-ray disc- at least for right now- has seen less handling by others, than a DVD; 3. I'm thinking that the Blu-ray system, disc or player, is less susceptable to playback errors than the DVD system.

Now not one of those reasons is a good excuse for not cleaning rentals 100% of the time! And perhaps by doing so, I will completely solve the issue, well mostly, as I am sure there actually ARE some discs with manufacturing defects slipping through. But going forward, I will clean all disc rentals and see what happens.

Thanks for giving me the incentive to do so!

[garytma]

Originally Posted by tek101

Gary. I Meant people who rent the movies normally don't take care as good as their own. I too, once complained with Blockbuster about bad disc,and they said they do best as they can.what can we do but send them back.

Oh yes, you are right! I have always been aghast at how everyone I know handles optical discs of any kind. And imagine how many youngsters are handling rental DVDs! Yikes!

As previously mentioned, I have seen some rental DVDs come in looking like they have been through some mighty trying circumstances. And even after cleaning them off, they are still a mess- but interestingly nearly all of those DVDs will play fine in the S300.

Thanks for the clarification of your post!

[aqupunk]

Ok so i am going to load the new firmware on my friends sony 300. They have it connected to a bose system via hdmi. So to get the true hd the player decodes it and sends it pcm right? So I should set all the settings on the player to pcm right? So how do you know when it is doing dolby true hd audio? Do you select it on the bd disc?

Any help would be thankful....

[Fatboymart]

Originally Posted by aqupunk

Ok so i am going to load the new firmware on my friends sony 300. They have it connected to a bose system via hdmi. So to get the true hd the player decodes it and sends it pcm right? So I should set all the settings on the player to pcm right? So how do you know when it is doing dolby true hd audio? Do you select it on the bd disc?

Any help would be thankful....

Yes select PCM via the options menu, also select true HD via the disc menu.

To check what your hearing, I think its under audio on your remote.

I dont have HDMI on my amp, so i'm recalling what i've read already.

[aqupunk]

Originally Posted by Fatboymart

Yes select PCM via the options menu, also select true HD via the disc menu.

To check what your hearing, I think its under audio on your remote.

I dont have HDMI on my amp, so i'm recalling what i've read already.

Thanks worked like a charm.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by aqupunk

Ok so i am going to load the new firmware on my friends sony 300. They have it connected to a bose system via hdmi. So to get the true hd the player decodes it and sends it pcm right? So I should set all the settings on the player to pcm right? So how do you know when it is doing dolby true hd audio? Do you select it on the bd disc?

Any help would be thankful....

Hi. What Bose system do you have that comes with HDMI....?

[aqupunk]

Originally Posted by tek101

Hi. What Bose system do you have that comes with HDMI....?

Not my bose system my friends and it is a new model very exspensive!! Also only has 1 hdmi input. Me I'm an onkyo person but old people love bose systems so to each his own.

[Yeha-Noha]

Just set the HDMI audio setting to PCM.

Those other two settings only affect the output from the digital out jack: optical or coxial. If you connected your player to your AVR using an HDMI cable, you don't need to worry about those settings.

Just for your info, I would suggest that when you play discs that have DTS-HD MA, DTS ES discreet, DTS-HD, or DD EX, you may get better sound by switching the HDMI setting to AUTO. That is, let your AVR decode these codecs instead of the S300. The DTS ES and DD EX flags are either ignored or not detected (not sure which) by the S300's decoder, and you will only get 5.1 channels. So if you watch the movie Gladiator and select the DTS ES discreet 6.1 track, you must have the HDMI setting on AUTO unless your AVR cannot decode it. When the S300 decodes DTS-ES 6.1, you will only get 5.1 LPCM output. The same goes for DD Extended (EX). To get that back channel (if you system is a 6.1 or 7.1 setup) you need to leave the setting on AUTO. My own preference based on listening tests that I have done, is to let my AVR decode the DTS-HD MA core. Maybe it's my AVR, but it sounds better than having the S300 decode it (HDMI setting set to PCM). For LPCM 5.1 - 7.1 it doesn't matter which setting you use. Both PCM and AUTO work equally well.

[bigalan2k7]

This disc will update your Sony BDP-S300 Blu-Ray player's firmware from previous versions to 4.20!


its for sale on ebay on disk now


This utility updates the BDP-S300 firmware to version 4.20, and provides the following benefits:
Improvements over firmware version 3.95:
• Improves BD-Java compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.
• Adds Dolby® TrueHD Audio decoding functionality.
Additional improvements over original firmware:
• Compatibility with BD-R/RE discs burned by the Click to Disc™ and Click to Disc™ Editor software included with some VAIO® computers
• Compatibility with the newly released BD-R/RE format (BDMV).
• Improves BD-Java compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.

[drago3451]

Originally Posted by bigalan2k7

This disc will update your Sony BDP-S300 Blu-Ray player's firmware from previous versions to 4.20!


its for sale on ebay on disk now


This utility updates the BDP-S300 firmware to version 4.20, and provides the following benefits:
Improvements over firmware version 3.95:
• Improves BD-Java compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.
• Adds Dolby® TrueHD Audio decoding functionality.
Additional improvements over original firmware:
• Compatibility with BD-R/RE discs burned by the Click to Disc™ and Click to Disc™ Editor software included with some VAIO® computers
• Compatibility with the newly released BD-R/RE format (BDMV).
• Improves BD-Java compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.

I assume you are kidding, and would never pay for a firmware upgrade as it is free at Sonystyle.com.

[Yeha-Noha]

Yup, it's a joke.

However it really wouldn't be a joke for some stupid idiot trying to sell 4.20 firmware on ebay. Downloading the firmware indicates your acceptance of Sony's SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT:

"Under this Agreement, Sony and it licensors grant you a limited license to use the program and accompanying online documentation for use only with the Sony products and not for resale."

[tron3]

Seeing how this thread speaks mostly of audio and firmware these days, any word on when they will fix the firmware so we can play Iron Man on it?

It's upsetting that I gloated over this great new firmware only to see it doesn't support a much anticipated movie. I hardly got to enjoy 4.20.

All I can gather is that Sony is aware and may be fixing the problem. This would have been my first order from tower.com to get it early only to find having it early would do me no good.

"You caught me doing much worse things." -Tony Stark / Iron Man

[QwikSand]

Where did they say that it was this player with 4.20, in the recall thread?

[Octavio]

Originally Posted by tron3

Seeing how this thread speaks mostly of audio and firmware these days, any word on when they will fix the firmware so we can play Iron Man on it?

Probably never (at least not for this reason) because seems the problem is not the player but the shitty Paramount BD release of Iron Man.

So please stop the alarming trend. C'mon, the movie haven't been released yet and some people already want to burn their players?

Read this:


Second, and more importantly, it appears that there's been a problem with Paramount's Iron Man Blu-ray Disc. We're getting reports from many retailers that the discs have been recalled, and they've had to ship back their stock. Apparently, there are issues with Disc One playing properly on select Sony Blu-ray player models. Indeed, not long after I received my review disc, I also received a "fixed" replacement copy of Disc One. The title is still set to street on 9/30 and we're currently hearing that fixed discs WILL be shipped to retailers in time to meet street date, so there should be no problems with the disc when you purchase it next week. We also suspect that if any bad discs do manage to hit store shelves on street date, a replacement program will be available for those consumers who need it. We've got inquiries into the studio on all this, so we'll let you know as soon as we hear anything official.

Back later with more, including (as it happens) an Iron Man review. Stay tuned...
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#iron1

[QwikSand]

Exactly. Unless Sony is sent every movie they wouldn't even know since it's well before the release. I love my S300.

[leom_h]

Paramount issued a full recall of Iron Man, so its not a problem with the player...

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/09/24...-be-postponed/

[odin24]

Seriously confused here...

Basically I have an opportunity to get this player for dirt cheap, I am only going to do this if I can get uncompressed PCM throught the 5.1 anologue output. I do not have an HDMI audio receiver, I do have a Sony (STRDE698)that has 5.1 anologue inputs.

Now I have read a few threads that are somewhat conflicting... or at least to me they are. I have read the BDPS300 can do the following... can someone please confirm this.

-Internally decoded TrueHD, sent via HDMI only as PCM.
-Not capable of decoding DTSHD-MA, sent only as DTS core.
-Uncompressed LPCM through the 5.1 anologue out is possibble.

Can someone please confirm my concerns... I just want HD audio.

Thanks.

[krisjan]

Originally Posted by odin24

Seriously confused here...

Basically I have an opportunity to get this player for dirt cheap, I am only going to do this if I can get uncompressed PCM throught the 5.1 anologue output. I do not have an HDMI audio receiver, I do have a Sony (STRDE698)that has 5.1 anologue inputs.

Now I have read a few threads that are somewhat conflicting... or at least to me they are. I have read the BDPS300 can do the following... can someone please confirm this.

-Internally decoded TrueHD, sent via HDMI only as PCM.
-Not capable of decoding DTSHD-MA, sent only as DTS core.
-Uncompressed LPCM through the 5.1 anologue out is possibble.

Can someone please confirm my concerns... I just want HD audio.

Thanks.

Your list of audio capabilities for the 300 with FW 4.2 is correct. The unit has always been capable of delivering LPCM via analog outputs from the beginning. Just bear in mind that not all BD's have an LPCM audio track. TrueHD decoding was added "officially" with FW 4.2 but only via HDMI output. There is no (and never will be) DTS-MA decoding in the 300. You will get the core DTS track if you select a DTS-MA audio track.